Simple Homemade Ramen Noodle Recipe

Over the past two years, I have become absolutely obsessed with Ramen. I am not talking about the $0.19 dry packets that we all lived off of in College. I am referring to true Ramen, with homemade noodles and broth that is cooked for days. This obsession has rubbed off onto my husband and while we were in DC a few weeks back, he insisted on eating Ramen everyday we were there.

This obsession of mine started a few years ago when I went to Seattle for a Food Blogger conference. My friend Leslie is a noodle obsessed foodie and suggested we try Ramen while there. I was sold. What I loved about Ramen is that you can truly make it your own by adding spice, eggs, pork, extra veggies, you name it.

My husband got his first taste of true Ramen when we were in New York a few months ago for the NYC Marathon. It was cold and rainy plus I needed to carb-load. We had reservations at a fancy Italian restaurant the night before the race but I wasn't feeling it. I wanted Ramen and off we went to To To Ramen after seeing this was one of the highest ranked Ramen joints in Midtown East. I ordered the Miso Ramen and added Avocado. To this day, he will tell you this $8 bowl of delicious noodles was the best thing he has ever ate in his two trips to NYC.

Then we went to DC for the Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon and I believe this is when my husband became a noodle addict. We had similar weather conditions to NYC and ran all 13 miles in the cold, wet rain. It was near impossible to warm up and all either of us wanted was a bowl of Ramen post race. Thanks to many recommendations of facebook friends, we found ourselves at Toki Underground, where I fell in love with Kimchi Broth and made it a goal to try and recreate something like this back at home.

The Ramen noodles themselves are super easy to make if you have a Pasta Maker. We were very lucky to receive all of Kitchenaid's pasta attachments for Christmas this past year. Gabe's parents got us the Kitchenaid Pasta Roller Attachment while my parents got us the KitchenAid Pasta-Extruder. We used the extruder for the ramen and had enough noodles for a small army. We found a recipe on Fine Cooking which turned out perfect.

Homemade Ramen Noodle Recipe
(adapted from Fine Cooking)
1 cup hot water
2 Tbs. kansui (see below on where to find kansui or how to make your own kansui)
1 tsp. salt
3-1/2 cups 00 flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
Instructions
Stir together the hot water, kansui, and salt in a medium bowl until dissolved.

Put the flour into a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Set your machine at level two and drizzle 3/4 cup of the kansui mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl to incorporate any dry flour. Continue mixing in the remainder of the water 1 teaspoon at a time. Switch to the dough hook and knead by machine for 3 minutes. Remove the dough and finish kneading by hand for 2 minutes.

Shape the dough into a smooth square, wrap in plastic, and let rest for at least 1 hour.

If using the KitchenAid Pasta-Extruder, divide the dough into pasta balls as the instructions suggest. If using the Kitchenaid Pasta Roller Attachment (or other pasta roller), divide dough into 5 squares. Pass each piece through the rollers, starting with setting 1 and working through to setting 5. Coat the dough sheets well with flour to prevent sticking, and then pass noodles through the thin-width cutters. Boil immediately for 2-3 minutes, or wrap well and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
The Mess:
Excuse my messy kitchen / office pic above but I wanted to include something that showed the KitchenAid Pasta-Extruder in action. The not so wonderful thing about living in a condo is that my main living areas were turned into a makeshift office once I started working from home. Plus making homemade pasta is a mess.

The Toppings:
We have done so many variations of different recipes and no matter how hard I try, the photos are not attractive, so I refuse to post them. My favorite to date is a Kimchi Ramen, my attempt to recreate the broth we had at Toki Underground in DC. I used a variation of the recipe found here (I pureed my Kimchi and left out the nori). I added pork which I made in  my slow cooker, saving 1 cup of the broth it cooked in and added it to my Kimchi broth.

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Happy New Years! 2013 a year in review

WOW what a year. I can honestly say, I do not want 2013 to end at the strike of midnight tonight. 2013 has been a magical year to say the least. It's been a year full of accomplishments, celebrations, tons of engagements and a lot of travel.

Thank you to all of my loyal readers who have helped make my blog what it is today. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you all.

So here is my year in review!

January
I ran the 2013 runDisney Half Marathon with my Best Friend Keri and former roomate, Tara.

Two days after running the Disney Half, Keri and I went on a 5 day cruise.

February
Gabe and I ran the 2013 Rock n Roll St. Pete Half Marathon

Two weeks later, we went on vacation to New Orleans, where both sets of our parents jointed us. Engagement rumors were in full force but did not take place. We did run our second half marathon that month, the Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon.

March
We took a weekend trip over to Sarasota and ran the Sarasota Half Marathon. Due to an injury, I had to back down to a relay but still enjoyed every moment.

April
I met Taylor Swift thanks to Darlynn :)

And we went to Savannah to celebrate Darlynn at her Bacherlorette Party

May
Speaking of Darlynn, she got married!

I was accepted into the ING NYC Marathon via lottery

June
I got engaged, on my Birthday!

July
I bought two wedding dresses, yes two. We decided to say I Do in New Orleans and I didn't want to wear a long gown afterwords on Bourbon St. I cannot show you my long gown, but here is the short one.

August
Back to New Orleans we go! Wedding dress shown above was worn during our engagement shoot at Oak Alley Plantation outside of New Orleans. While there, we signed a contract for our reception venue at Hotel Mazarin.

My former roomate Tara became engaged to her longtime boyfriend Brandon.

September
Thanks to Bethenny Frankel, Darlynn and I were able to go to NYC to see her show filmed live. It was a huge surprise which we are both very grateful for.

A few days after I returned home from NY, I boarded another plane to head out west for the 2013 IFBC (International Food Bloggers Conference) with a group of friends. My highlight of that trip was catching a flying fish at the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market.

October
We had a second engagement shoot at Busch Gardens at one of their haunted houses for Howl-o-Scream. Zombies, Voodoo Queens and all.

Our friends Lauren and Joe announced they are expecting a baby!

November
I became a Marathoner!

Less than a week later, I ran the 2013 runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon.

And two weeks after that, I ran the Women's Running Series Half Marathon with Keri.

December
We went back to New Orleans with Gabe's parents which I have not blogged a bit about. We found someone to marry us and went wedding cake tasting. We selected a cake from Haydel's Bakery which I will be sharing in the next few weeks on Wedding Wednesday. In the meantime, here is a new friend I met on a swamp tour.

While I was in NOLA, our friends Leslie and Chris became engaged!

So yes, it was one heck of a year. Three trips to NOLA, two trips to NYC, one trip to Savannah, one trip to Seattle and multiple trips to Disney. Here's to hoping 2014 will be half this great!

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Dining in Seattle

When one goes to a food bloggers conference in a foodie city, it is very hard to determine when to break away to eat the true city eats. When a few friends and I decided to attend the International Food Bloggers conference, the one thing we agreed upon was that we would actually agree the city we flew across country to visit. Problem being - we had way too many items to eat on a short time frame.

On night one, we visited Poppy, a restaurant located in Capitol Hill. Poppy offers a thali,” a platter served to each guest holding a variety of small dishes. This is my foodie dream come true. We started off with the suggested eggplant fries with sea salt & honey. To be honest, I was quite skeptical. To my very surprise, I loved these fries and I wish I could recreate them at home. On to entrees, we ordered two. The standout for me was the carrot ravioli with king boletes, sage and spiced carrot sauce.

When I started researching Seattle, I couldn't help but come across multiple Tom Douglas restaurants. He is absolutely the puppeteer of Seattle chefs. We visited more than one of Tom Douglas's restaurants on this trip but first was Etta's. A restaurant that showed the highest level of hospitality I have ever encountered in a restaurant, hands down.All restaurants should take a page out of Etta's book. So their food - funny story, I went in wanting Etta's famous rubbed salmon. One day before leaving for Seattle, my foodie boss suggested I go to Etta's without knowing I had reservations. Then he threw the curve ball - order the hamburger...I am in Seattle but he knows my love of burgers and I trust him. So I said bye bye mr. Salmon and ordered one of the best burgers I have ever had in my life and encourage anyone dining at Etta's to order the same. Oh  my \ god.

Moving on to a meal I couldn't leave Seattle without trying was Ramen. While I may eat a lot of foie gras and kobe beef, I am truly a simple girl with a heart to Ramen. It's where I learned I was a wannabee cook. At age 18, I always made my ten cent noodles gourmet while my friends looked at me with ten heads. I ordered Garlic Shouyu [chicken broth), Leslie ordered Tonkotsu From Hell [spicy pork broth] and Rachel got the special of the day Bacon Tonkotsu [pork broth]

Our final meal in Seattle was at Serious Pie. Now, my family was a bit sad when I came home with a few seafood meals on my belt, none mentioned in this post. Yet I am a burger and pizza girl at heart. What can I say. Tom Douglas - Serious Pie was all that. I had the buffalo mozzarella, red sauce, fresh basil. Leslie ordered the roasted golden chanterelle mushrooms, truffle cheese and Rachel ordered the soft cooked free range eggs*, smoked prosciutto, pecorino sardo, arugula. All three were amazing and we didn't want to leave with any leftovers on the plate.

Finally for coffee - if you are a Starbucks fan, make sure you plan your trip to Pike Place market during off times. I strongly suggest visiting other coffee joints while in town. I had a slight love affair with Espresso Vivace.

Seattle is a spot for foodies of all palates to visit. Make sure you do your research prior to visiting and plan out your meals. You do not want to waste one during your visit.

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How Dorie Greenspan helped plan my honeymoon - IFBC 2013

Warning - there's a lot of words going on in this post without a lot of photos, but you need to live this moment through me. It's inspirational, incredible and I happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Many months ago, I was very excited upon hearing the news that Dorie Greenspan (who New York Times called a Culinary Genius) would be the keynote speaker at IFBC. Why you ask? Dorie's never ending accomplishments are listed below (hint....Julia Child) and she was among the first culinary professionals to produce cooking apps for mobile phones and tablet computers. I can say with my whole heart, this woman changed our lives in the kitchen we know it today.

Sitting at a table in the very back of the room at the first IFBC session, I found myself straining to get a better look at Dorie. Yet I swore she kept looking in our direction during her key note. More on that in a bit.

Dorie had my attention at go. I took more notes in her key note than I did during the entire conference combined. Impressed? Amazed? Intrigued? Encouraged? Yes, yes, yes and yes. This woman started her life at a normal day job. She was a runner (yay!) with no training in food or journalism. In fact, she didn't bake her first chocolate chip cookie until she was married. Present day, she's written 10 cookbooks, won six James Beard and IACP, including Cookbook of the Year (twice), IACP Cookbook-of-the-Year Award for Desserts by Pierre Herme, The New York Times Bestseller, James Beard Foundation's Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America. Wait, that's not enough? She's also the co-author of two cookbooks with Pierre Hermé, Paris's king of pastry and she wrote the Café Boulud Cookbook with Daniel Boulud, the famous French chef in America. I am not done - Dorie wrote Baking with Julia, for Julia Child.

Instant culinary crush on a woman? Yep.

With that resume, you could think Dorie would be self righteous. I mean, she has all right to be....but listening to her speak, you knew within moments that wasn't the case. This is someone I could imagine teaching me to bake without screaming at my KitchenAid or my oven. Someone I would love to learn from. I took my pen to paper as quick as one could, with quotes flying. Here are a few of my favorites.

"I am lucky because I work hard" Dorie - you have no idea what those words mean to me. I state them on a daily basis.

"I am so fortunate because I say YES"

"Food writers have the power to bring people together and do what makes them happy"

"Write for yourself and cross your fingers someone else will like it too"

Someone asked Dorie what her most memorable yes was and she said, "my husband is here!" Dorie's husband was sitting directly behind us, which is why she kept looking in our direction. I only wish for one thing in my life, to have the love her and her husband obviously have for one another years into our marriage. You could feel the romance in the room.

How Dorie Greenspan helped plan our honeymoon.....
OK - now you want to know how Dorie Greenspan helped plan our honeymoon? Dorie lives in Paris and NYC. I could tell instantly how much she treasures the city of love. When IFBC opened up the session for Q&A's to Dorie, people asked all sorts of questions but I had a burning one that I couldn't ask because it was about me.

Many hours and cocktails later, I found myself in the gift suite at IFBC. Upon walking in, I felt like someone going through a hurricane. Women were grabbing swag off the table, shoving, pushing, etc. That may be a little dramatic but it was the overall sensation I had. With bug eyes, I hopped from table to table trying to get out of there as fast as possible. I said under my breathe "I feel like a f#$k&! rat" and heard a giggle behind me. I turned around and it was Dorie. Great first impression Meg.

I instantly told Dorie how much her key note meant to me. That she was a true inspiration for any food blogger and inspiring chef. She was so kind and I seriously felt as if I were speaking to a friend.

That's when I asked her.

"Dorie, during the Q&A, I really wanted to ask you a question, but it was about me so I held off. I am honeymooning to Europe and spending two days in Paris. Can you tell me one restaurant that is a must go to?"

Dorie was so excited!! She asked me for a pen and a piece of paper. I never imagined this and sat there a little bug eyed. The first question she asked me was "sweet or savory" to which I too quickly responded "savory". Although I am savory as savory gets, I wish I responded sweet to the woman who has written multiple books about baking. Anyways -

Not only did I receive one suggestion, I got three. With food suggestions.

Oysters at Regis
Pastry at Pierre Herme
l'Araunt - Comptoir, Dorie's favorite wine bar (and I need to have the croquets)

Graciously, I sat there in awe over this inspirational woman who was kind, helpful and down to earth. We spoke a little about running and of course, I told her I am running New York this year. I could tell she enjoyed helping me out with suggestions. I have been asked by everyone, "did you get a photo with her?" No. The suggestions above are more than any photo could ever do for me and it would have been awkward to ask after she spent so much personal time with me. I know this question is frequently asked because I am known as a celeb chef photo addict....

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Savor Seattle Pike Place Market Food Tour

While in Seattle for IFBC, a group of 8 bloggers from Tampa FL headed out for the Savor Seattle Pike Place Market Food Tour. We met up with our amazing tour guide Rich to learn history of the Pike Place Public Market.

We started outside the Market theater, home of one of many Seattle landmarks -the gum wall. Something totally disgusting and beautiful at the same time. Of course I had to leave my marking.

After heading into the market, our first stop was at Daily Dozen Doughnuts and we were welcomed with bags of hot mini doughnuts topped with sugar. I am not a doughnut girl but I am marrying a guy who requested a Krispy Kreme cake as his 30th birthday cake. I would say he would approve of these little guys!

 After we were finished with the doughnuts, we headed to MarketSpice, a specialty tea and spice store that opened in 1911. I instantly fell in love with the charm of this store. I am a spice addict and my cabinet is out of control. A little overwhelming for someone like me, I couldn't decide what to buy. Luckily, MarketSpice has an online shop and I do plan on shopping away! We sipped on one of their best selling tea's while checking out the goods.

Now for my 5 seconds of fame. If you have read my bucket list, you're already aware one of my items was to catch a flying fish  at the world famous Pike Place Fish Market. We were welcomed by very enthusiastic fish mongers and got to try out 4 types of smoked salmon (including candy salmon!!).

When it came time to watch the guys throwing fish, we received an exciting show. Sadly, my phone didn't turn to video fast enough. Luckily, they asked if anyone in the audience wanted to catch a fish, to which I jumped. Even luckier, Jen caught it on video and Leslie took plenty of photos. The excitement in my face and the fact I hugged a huge raw smelly fish in my Burberry jacket shows how proud I was that I actually caught the fish (I was panicking). 

After leaving the guys, we visited Franks Quality Produce, a family owned and operated fruit stand who sell to the public and wholesale to many local restaurants. I do not like peaches but tried one handed to us and good lord, it was the most amazing piece of fruit I have ever consumed and I wanted more....so I took seconds.  

We took some time to stroll through Pike Place Market, visiting Chukar Cherries.We sampled multiple dried and candied cherries from their menu. You could easily see why this is such a popular mail order company. While in the market, we saw many stunning flower bouquets, priced at $15 for the highest. If we lived in Seattle, there would be no excuse for Gabe not to bring me home a bouquet of fresh flowers on a weekly basis.

Up next was Beechers Handmade Cheeses, a very famous cheese shop who is widely known for their Mac and Cheese and artisan grilled cheese sandwiches. The Mac and Cheese was creamy and delicious. It had a hint of spice to it and tons of cheese. Going to Beechers is a must visit for anyone in Seattle.

Speaking of must visits, our next stop was Pike Place Chowder. This chowder was legit - and I am going on a limb here by stating it was better than chowder I have feasted on in New England. Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way - Three years in a row, Pike Place Chowder was named “Nation’s Best Chowder.” After the third win, our New England Clam Chowder was retired from the competition and inducted into the Great Chowder Cook-Off Hall-of-Fame. IT WAS THAT GOOD.

Around this time, all of us were going into food coma mode with two more stops. Piroshky Piroshky was next, a Russian bakery known for Piroshkies! This was the first time I have tried this Russian Pastry, which comes savory or sweet. We tried both, an apple cinnamon and a beef and cheese. Both piroshkies were awesome but the beef and cheese was out of this world.

Finally, last but not least was one of Tom Douglas's restaurants, Etta's. We sampled Etta's crab cake and it was so good that we came back for dinner here later that night but I will do a separate post on that magical experience.

I would strongly suggest anyone visiting Seattle for the first time to experience Savor Seattle Pike Place Market Food Tour. You get to see many Seattle landmarks while trying multiple bite size samples of delicious foods. It's the only way to experience Pike Place for the first time. Multiple high fives to our Tour Guide Rich for such a memorable experience on my first trip to Seattle!

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